By Alex Rose
Daily Times, Primos, Pa.
ALDAN, Pa. — An officer involved in the fatal shooting a 23-year-old man in Aldan earlier this month has been cleared in the incident and is free to return to active duty, District Attorney Tanner Rouse announced at a press conference Friday.
“She was simply out of options,” Rouse said. “She Tased him as often as she could to get him into a subdued state. The Taser stopped working. He got the prongs out of his body. She was out of nonlethal options and he’s charging at her with what he has told her is lethal force. I don’t know how anybody could Monday-morning quarterback this one.”
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Rouse, joined by Criminal Investigation Division Chief Erick Echevarria , said he was not going to identify the officer at this time or how long she had been employed, but did describe her as a newer officer.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office earlier this week identified the man shot as Ugochukwu Ilodigew.
Coroner Dr. Janine Darby determined the cause of death to be gunshot wounds and the manner of death was certified as homicide.
Rouse explained that “homicide” is merely a medical determination and does not indicate wrongdoing or legal accountability.
The shooting took place about 3:30 a.m. Aug. 6 in the first block of South Clifton Avenue .
Rouse played the officer’s body-worn camera footage Friday, which shows about two minutes from the officer’s arrival to the time that two shots were fired. Both shots struck Ilodigew.
Rouse said Aldan provides courtesy rides to residents, though that policy is now under review.
In the video, the officer arrives for what she believes is just such a call to transport a man to Upper Darby .
He begins to tell her he needs to get to his grandfather, before pulling what Rouse described as a 12-inch kitchen knife from his pants and lunging at the officer.
She is clearly startled and falls backward onto the ground as Ilodigew tells her, “Shoot me” and “Don’t shoot me.” The officer gets back to her feet and Ilodigew begins slashing in her direction.
The officer yells, “Taser! Taser! Taser!” then fires her Taser at Ilodigew, sending him to the ground.
She calls for more units and repeatedly orders him to turn over as he tries to reach for the knife that has fallen out of his hand. He is Tased again when he grabs the knife, and drops it.
Ilodigew, who’s face has been obscured in the video, can then be heard asking “Where is it? Where is it?” as he looks around. He tells the officer he has a gun and reaches for his waistband.
The officer activates the Taser again and again as he continues to ignore orders to put his hands behind his back or on the sidewalk and continues reaching for his waistband.
A few seconds later, he suddenly leaps up and begins running at the officer. The Taser prongs at this point appear to be out of his body.
In the final moments of the video, Ilodigew can be seen running toward the officer reaching for his waist as she yells, “I’m not playing! Stop it right now! I’m not joking!”
The officer gives one final order, “Stop it!” as Ilodigew closes the gap between them. Two shots ring out and he falls on the grass, moaning.
“I can’t think of a thing in the world that she could have done differently,” Rouse said. “It is very clear from that video and very clear from the aftermath of this incident that she desperately wanted to avoid this situation. We’re talking about a man who has threatened her and has attacked her with a knife, that has told her that he has a gun. She pleaded with him to stop.”
Rouse said the officer radioed for medics within five seconds of shots being fired. Other arriving officers immediately began life-saving techniques, applying pressure to the wound, Rouse said, but those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.
“Regardless of who was at fault, regardless of any legal conclusions, regardless of any of the circumstances surrounding this, this is a tragedy,” Rouse said. “There is a young man in our community who is dead and there is simply nothing to say that is going to make that better or that I can offer today that helps heal that wound.”
Ilodigew had displayed signs of mental instability for years beforehand. Rouse said he had no doubt that his family had done everything in their power to get him the help he needed.
“But that’s just the point: If they did everything in their power and we still arrived at this point, something has gone horribly wrong,” Rouse said. “Our mental health systems are not good enough. We are not equipped — we, law enforcement, we, society — are not equipped to handle something like this.”
He said it is a “will issue,” noting both Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican Attorney General Dave Sunday both take mental health issues seriously, and that is a bipartisan group of people who should be able to improve this situation.
“This is a tragedy and it wasn’t avoidable that night, but it was avoidable in the years that preceded it and that led us to this point,” Rouse said.
He said law enforcement met with Ilodigew’s family Friday morning and showed the video to those who wanted to see it. Without going into his medical records, Rouse said Ilodigew had received help for his mental health issues recently.
Rouse noted this was the first officer-involved shooting in Aldan in his nearly seven years in Delaware County .
Aldan Mayor Mike Ceci , joined by Aldan Police Chief Steven Ziviello , Council Vice President Joyce Lambert , and Councilwoman Marlene Smythe , thanked Rouse and members of the CID Special Investigations Unit for conducting a thorough and timely investigation.
“We appreciate having the benefit of an independent investigation and its conclusion that the officer’s actions were justified,” Ceci said. “… This was a tragic event all around. The conclusion of this investigation doesn’t change the fact that a family has lost a loved one and we recognize the grief they are experiencing. Our thoughts are with the family at this time.”
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